Tips For A Warm, Safe Home As Temps Drop

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Part of preparing for the colder weather is ensuring your home is ready to keep you warm. It’s expected to be a pretty cold weekend for us, and with lower temperatures, one of the main concerns at home are frozen pipes.

“If it gets real cold people will call in and have frozen pipes,” said Steve Reed, owner at Reed’s Plumbing.

Reed says frozen pipe calls are pretty common for him this time of year. It’s a problem when they freeze and also when they thaw.

“Usually, when they thaw, that’s when the pipes are busted and that floods the house,” said Reed.

But frozen pipes are also a concern for apartment buildings.

“If a pipe freezes and busts, anyone below is a concern,” said Chelsey Bunch, director of marketing at TLC Properties. “And it’s not just one house, it’s multiple living units that we have to be concerned about.”

Some tips to keep this from happening are to keep your home about 66 degrees or higher, open cabinet doors under the sinks, wrap pipes near exterior walls and in crawl spaces and close open air-vents.

If you’ll be away for a couple days, leave faucets dripping.

“This allows the water to move through the pipes rather than sitting stagnant and freezing,” said Bunch.

Reed says the number one mistake homeowners make..

“Leave their hose on their hose bib.”

So, make sure to disconnect all gardening hoses.

Another big concern this time of year are space heaters. Just on Tuesday, the Springfield Fire Department responded to a fire caused by an alternative heat source.

“We go to fires all the time,” said Battalion Chief Julie Williams. “What that thing is doing is that it’s drying it out all the time that that heat is there and it will eventually catch on fire.”

If using space heaters, keep them away from anything that can catch on fire and avoid extension cords.

“We know that our resident utilize them but we don’t recommend them,” said Bunch.

Other things to help keep your house warm and keep the bills down is to make sure doors and windows are closed and locked, and winter-strip them if necessary.

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